Fast-attack motorcycle units
Looking at this I wonder whether that front rider will ever hear again?
Hah! Y’all are thinking I am losing my marbles ‘cuz I already wrote how the Rooshians were using these against the Ukrainians a while back.
Well… there is some justification for that thought – just ask my wife – but this case is a little different.
Quite a few derided the two-wheeler units as easy to kill, ineffective, etc… well, apparently one group is impressed enough to field their own – their opponent, the Ukrainians.
As the battle with drones continues, motorcycles have become a rising star in Ukraine’s war.
The Ukrainian military’s 425th separate assault regiment, nicknamed “Skala,” announced on Tuesday that it had officially formed the country’s first motorcycle attack company.
“As a result, we now have a modern ‘cavalry’ whose main task is to rapidly break through to enemy positions, conduct assault operations, and quickly shift the direction of attack,” it said on its Telegram channel.
Telegram…wonder if they returned the favor and copied Pete Hegseth… nah, can’t say that, it’d be a low blow. And too easy.
While motorbikes leave the rider more exposed, they’re faster, nimbler, and smaller, which makes them better able to evade attacks from small drones.
As an infantry buddy once mentioned to me “yeah, in a tank you feel invulnerable – riding in the biggest highest priority target on the battlefield.”
The use of motorcycles to carry troops into battle is well-documented in Ukraine. Since early last year, Russian troops have been increasingly seen riding on light vehicles such as ATVs and motorbikes as both a means of transport and a way to attack Ukrainian positions rapidly. In its statement, the 425th said its motorbike-riding troops had trained for “hundreds of hours” to shoot while on the move. The statement did not indicate whether the unit has started fighting or when its motorcycle troops will hit the front lines.The 425th released a video of about two dozen soldiers riding tandem on off-road motorbikes, with each pair involving one driver and an infantryman wielding an assault rifle.
“The goal is to ride in, strike quickly at enemy positions, dismount, storm in, secure a foothold, and complete the mission successfully,” a Ukrainian soldier says in the video.
Analysts from the ISW said in late April that it’s likely Russia will start further incorporating motorcycles into its tactics for future attacks.
Lt. Col. Pavlo Shamshyn, spokesperson of Ukraine’s ground forces in Kharkiv, told local media that week that Kyiv believed the same.
“Our intelligence records the fact that in training centers on the territory of the Russian Federation and in the units themselves, active training of motorcycle drivers is taking place, and all this indicates that the assault operations of spring-summer 2025 will be carried out on motorcycles,” Shamshyn told Ukrainian outlet Suspilne. Business Insider
